Having been fifth in the first practice session on Friday, Barrichello’s Q1 pace showed he had the potential to make the top ten.

But he spun off early in Q2 at turn three – where he would come to grief several times during the weekend. That ended his session and left him 17th on the grid.

At the start of the race he was squeezed into the same gravel trap but kept going and was soon after 14th. He had to make an early pit stop with a slow leak on a front tyre which delayed him further.

Barrichello recovered with a gutsy move on Kamui Kobayashi for ninth at turn three. Two laps later, while trying to keep clear of a counter-attack, he braked too late at turn three and crashed into Nico Rosberg.

He was handed a drive-through penalty and later retired with a transmission failure.

Barrichello said: “I had a good rhythm going and was doing quite a lot of overtaking until the incident with Rosberg.

“I wasn?óÔé¼Ôäót planning on overtaking him at that point, I was defending from Kobayashi. I think we have one tyre with grip and one with less and so we have different braking points. Rosberg braked earlier, and was already in the middle of the corner before I could stop the car.”

Pastor Maldonado

Maldonado never got within two seconds of Barrichello during practice.

He slipped back from his grid position of 15th at the start and had just recovered the position from Sergio Perez when his transmission failed.

And unlike the McLaren, putting a more standard bit on while trying to find the right materials to get it to be reliably before putting it on again, this gearbox is an integral part of the car. I hope a different ride-height and less cerbs can cure it, or something.

Rubens seemed a bit all over this weekend and seemed to have a soft spot for gravel the amount of times he was in it. His move on Kobayashi was nothing short of fantastic but then he could have been mistaken for a rookie with his move on Rosbger. As I said on another article, how to go from hero to zero in a couple of laps.

The less said about Pastor’s weekend the better as your article seems to suggest although there really wasn’t that much to comment on :P

I think instead of optimistic it was slight bully tactics. He wasn’t expecting to take Rosberg by them both equally making the corner. He was expecting him to see him in his mirrors and get out the way.

Rubens should never have tried it and was a move I would expect from Maldonado, not someone who’s raced in over 300 Grand Prix.

I don’t agree with that. The cars came together at the corner and Barichello had just used the KERS button moments before the impact. Rosberg had no bame whatsoever. Barichello even attempted to blame the tyres for the accident. I haven’t heard of the out come of the stewards investigationof the incident, becausd other drivers had got penalties for less.

Rubens commented on that he was not even trying to overtake there. Just looking more in his mirrors to defend from Kobayashi behind, using KERS as well and not noticing Rosberg already braked a lot earlier then Rube expected.

I agree with Steph that Rubens seemed all over the place for most of the weekend. had he not spun in Q2 would he have been quite so hot headed during the race? Who knows.

Apparently, he was defending from Kobayashi when he drove into the side of Rosberg, concentrating more on his KERS button and his mirrors than the car in front and his own braking zone. Personally, I don’t think a drive-through penalty is enough for taking a competitor out of the race (whether intended or not) should have been at least a stop-go but there you are.

This car’s been rather unreliable in different areas all over testing, and now the race, hopefully they can sort out that gearbox. But people were saying that reliability is a big factor in a design like that.

Maldonado should have done better in qualifying, considering the car he has. Perez and Di Resta I think are doing much better with the cars they have.

I think it’s unfair only to mention that Maldonado was 2 seconds slower in practice. He was only a few thousandths off in q1. Also, people are praising di Resta for out-qualifying his team-mate who spun, but not Maldonado who also out-qualified a team-mate who made a mistake. I don’t think that’s fair.

Well it’s simple! It’s because Maldonado is a pay driver who only won the strongest F1 feeder series because no other competitive drivers were left, whereas di Resta is a future champion because he beat Vettel a few years ago in F3 and won that greatest of racing series, DTM.

Maldonado outqualified Barrichello because Barrichello spun before setting a laptime in Q2. Sutil had already set a hotlap before the one he spun on, which Di Resta had bettered and there was nothing in the lap that Sutil ruined to suggest he was going to beat Di Resta’s time.

Defending from Kobayashi? Forgive me if I’m wrong but hadn’t he already pulled away by then? It was a rookie error and thats all there is to it!

Definately a shame though cause he was flying at the time! I can kinda see how its done, I’ve raced karts and occasionally you really feel in the zone and are just flying past people, then you come up against someone who doesn’t just leave you space and you crash, simple as. An experienced driver like Rubens should be past that though.

Shame cause I love williams and I’ve always liked Rubens, but the fault here is definately with the driver.

In my eyes FW33 is a great car. If they sort out their reliability I think they will be really quick. Their “tight” rear end (as Sam Micheal discribes it!!!) generates a great deal of downforce which helps their tires not to degrate as fast as Ferrari for example.

Pastor was good too. He never drove in Melbourne in the past (I am not sure, correct me if I am wrong) and Rubens has been there at least 4.000 times!!!! So is logical to be slower than the most experienced guy in the grid.

Barrichelo’s mistake was based on his frustration. He had great potential to be in top 6 or 7 (in my opinion) and blew it at Q2. Then the incident in first lap of the race, and then the puncher. When I saw him behind Kamui i was impressed. His lap times were great, and stable as well.

You can say that is risky or ignorant but I am telling you anyway….. this car is really good. In the hands either of them it can be a winner. Pastor is great at Monaco, Barrichelo is good everywhere. In a tricky and unpredictable race anything can happen.

The most under performing team of the weekend for me, maybe even more so than Mercedes and Ferrari. Like Brundle said, there is some core pace in that Williams, which is more than can be said for the last few cars they’ve made. I think a few races in and the reliability problems could perhaps be gone, fingers crossed!